Terror on Heathrow plane

A drug-crazed Briton terrified hundreds of passengers on a jet flying into Heathrow today when he tried to storm the cockpit.

The 35-year-old man ran up to the plane's upper deck and attempted a running-charge at the locked door into the flight deck. He was stopped only through the bravery of passengers and crew, who overpowered him and handcuffed him to his seat.

He was arrested immediately after the South African Airlines flight from Cape Town landed an hour after dawn. Police who were questioning him at Heathrow stressed the matter was not being treated as a terrorist incident.

The drama began at about 12.30am British time - six hours after flight SA220 took off - when most of the passengers were asleep. The man slipped from his seat on the lower deck of the Boeing 747-400 and climbed the steps to the upper deck, which contains the flight deck and passenger seats. He ran quietly down the aisle and launched himself at the locked cockpit door, trying to shoulder-charge it.

Some passengers woke up and joined crew in knocking him to the ground and handcuffing him for the remaining five hours of the trip. He was examined by a doctor making the flight and given tranquillisers to keep him quiet .

SAA spokesman Russell Barlow-Jones said: "The doctor said he was on some form of habit-forming narcotics. He told the crew the man had suffered a panic attack or some other sort of withdrawal symptoms from the drug, and that is what made him run and attack the cockpit. The 317 passengers, flight deck and cabin crew were never in danger."

Flight crew alerted police, and officers were waiting at Heathrow's Terminal 1 to board the flight when it landed just before 6am. They arrested the man on board on suspicion of causing criminal damage.

SAA Johannesburg spokesman Rich Mkhondo said the man did not appear to be armed, but added: "It is only natural that the passengers would have been very upset by the man trying to force his way into the cockpit. Since the terrorist attacks of 11 September, SAA have stepped up security and the doors to the flight decks are always locked shut."

He said SAA intended to press charges. "I believe the three possible charges are endangering the safety of passengers, damaging property and being unruly on an aircraft."